In September 1990, after Iraq invaded Kuwait, President George Bush announced the beginning of a "new world order." By promptly following this statement with an American-led coalition to repel Saddam Hussein's aggression, Bush signaled the beginning of a new era of American international intervention.

Many argue that American foreign policy has not consistently adhered to this new doctrine of world mediation through intrusive intervention, varying its intent as well as its actions in a variety of scenarios including campaigns in Somalia, Haiti and Bosnia. At the same time, congressional efforts to lessen America's participation in the international arena has the potential to alter drastically the country's power and influence. These variables combine to make it more difficult than ever for the United States to agree on an appropriate political stance between isolationism and interventionism.

The 1998 Johns Hopkins Symposium on Foreign Affairs, "Superpower or Supercop? America's Response to the New World Order," will provide a forum for discourse on America's difficult position in the wake of the changing international political climate.

The symposium, run entirely by undergraduates, will bring 10 distinguished speakers to the Homewood campus on seven evenings in February and March. The first program is planned for Feb. 11.

Anthony Lake will talk on March 12.

Scheduled to speak during the series are Rep. Ben Cardin of Maryland, Taiwanese Ambassador Stephen Chen, Russian Ambassador Yuli M. Vorontsov, Pakistani Ambassador Riaz Khokhar, Rep. Robert Ehr-lich of Maryland, Sen. Paul Sarbanes of Maryland, Israeli Ambassador Eliahu Ben Elissar, Mexican Ambassador Jesus Reyes-Heroles, Japanese Ambassador Kunihiko Saito and former U.S. national security adviser Anthony Lake.

Benjamin Cardin, who has represented Maryland's Third Congressional District in Congress since 1987, is a member of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the Helsinki Commission). A Democrat, he currently serves on the House's Ways and Means Committee and the Health Subcommittee.

Ambassador Stephen Chen heads in the United States the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, which is the effective Embassy of Taiwan. He was born in Nanjing, China, and early in his diplomatic career served the Republic of China in posts that concerned that country's interests in Latin America. For the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he has served as vice minister and as deputy secretary-general for the Office of the President.

Yuli M. Vorontsov became the Russian Federation ambassador to the United States in 1994, and today he also serves as adviser on foreign affairs to President Boris N. Yeltsin. Vorontsov, onetime ambassador to India, France and Afghanistan, headed the Soviet delegation to the Belgrade meeting of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. In 1990, he was appointed the permanent representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations and representative of the Russian Federation to the U.N. Security Council.

Robert Ehrlich was elected to the House of Representatives in 1994. The Maryland Republican currently serves on the House Budget Committee and the Banking and Financial Services Committee.

Riaz Khokhar, the Pakistani ambassador to the United States, worked directly under Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto from 1974 to 1977. He participated in bilateral meetings with the Shah of Iran and with President Daud of Afghanistan to resolve border problems. Under Prime Ministers Bhutto, Jatoi and Sharif, Khokhar was secretary of foreign affairs and defense and served as ambassador to Bangladesh and Bhutan. He participated in several rounds of talks between Pakistan and India on Kashmir and Siachen.

A son of Greek immigrants, Maryland Sen. Paul Sarbanes graduated from the Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, and was a Rhodes Scholar. A Democrat, he served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and in 1976 was elected to the Senate, where he serves on the Foreign Relations Committee. In summer 1997, his efforts were instrumental in preventing the passage of stipulations in the controversial Helms-Biden Bill, calling for a potential withdrawal of the United States from the United Nations. A ranking member on the Senate Committee on the Budget, he also serves on the Joint Economic Committee.

Eliahu Ben Elissar, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, began his diplomatic career as a delegate to the World Zionist Congress and director-general for the Prime Minister's Office. Elissar headed Israel's first delegation to the Mena House talks in Cairo, and three years later, in 1980, he was named the country's first ambassador to Egypt. In 1981, he became a member of the Knesset. Elissar was an Israeli delegate to the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference and also served as a delegate to the U.N. General Assembly.

Ambassador Jesus Reyes-Heroles became the Mexican envoy to the United States in October 1997. A former energy minister and director general in the Ministry of Finance, he was once chief executive officer of Mexico's infrastructural development bank. Heroles has been a professor of economics at Universidad Iberoamericana, one of Latin America's premiere universities.

Kunihiko Saito entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in 1958, serving as counselor for the Permanent Mission of Japan to the European Communities, director general of the Treaties Bureau and vice minister for foreign affairs. In 1995, he was appointed ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Japan to the United States, where he has been a leading figure in Japanese-U.S. relations and in the enlargement of the United Nations Security Council.

National security adviser to President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1996, Anthony Lake served as a senior foreign policy adviser to the 1996 Clinton/Gore campaign. He was earlier an aide to Henry Kissinger and director of policy planning for President Jimmy Carter. Lake's State Department career included assignments as U.S. vice consul in Saigon and in Hue. He is the author of several books, including Somoza Falling, Our Own Worst Enemy: The Unmaking of American Foreign Policy and The Tar Baby Option.

The Johns Hopkins Symposium on Foreign Affairs was formed this year through the merging of the Woodrow Wilson International Studies Symposium and the International Studies Forum Symposium. The symposium director is Tom Narayan, a third-year international relations major.

All lectures are open to the public, and admission is free.